Guru (El Raval)

El Raval, Barcelona –

A chic bar and restaurant on the Raval side of Las Ramblas, Guru has created an unforgettable look of relentless white surfaces that cover almost every nook and cranny, creating a surreal drinking and dining environment.

Restaurant guests are served an artistic menu of fusion cuisine among albino palm tree pillars, illuminated against the stark walls only by the subtly shifting colors of fruit-shaped lanterns. Smaller groups, meanwhile, can relax with a bottle of wine along the retro-modern bar that’s set beneath giant teardrop-shaped lanterns which appear to ooze from the ceiling.

Although patrons can enjoy a relaxing meal earlier in the day, the nights have definitely been turned over to a more rambunctious crowd.

No doubt in part due to its location, the venue is becoming less popular as a restaurant and better known as a high-spirited party bar, as evidenced by the change in atmosphere in the evening when the cocktail crowd arrives and the ambient music gives way to a thumping soundtrack of house and dance mixes.

The main action takes place in the narrow confines of the white-washed front room, where a cosmopolitan mix of internationals gather for some heavy drinking and dancing.

Luckily, with its padded walls and soft lights, Guru could also double as the nicest insane asylum on the planet, and its chic patrons can feel free to go a little nuts.